Late on the first Easter Sunday, after the Lord had risen from the sepulcher, ten of the disciples gathered for the evening in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem (John 20). They were afraid and probably confused. Since their leader had been crucified by the Roman power, as organized by their own Jewish leaders, they feared that now his followers might also be hunted down and punished. They closed and locked the doors. Were any of the women there? The story does not say, but Peter and John were, who saw and talked with the angels that morning, and the stories of the women were known. Some time must have been spent wondering and perhaps arguing - was He really alive? How could they know it was really Him? This kind of thing, coming back to life after you’re dead, this doesn’t happen in this real world, there must be some mistake!

Then two of the followers, not of the twelve, but the two that had gone to the village of Emmaus, came in, excited and bursting with their news. They had seen Him! They had walked with Him for seven miles and He had told them wondrous things! They had only recognized Him when He broke bread and ate with them. "Don’t doubt us, it really was Jesus!"

And then as they all talked and argued, there He was, standing with them in the room. "Peace be unto you," He said, and He showed them His hands and feet and His side, where he was wounded. He calmed them, and told them that just as he had come down to mankind, so they must go out and teach to all people all the true things that He had taught in the years He was with them.

It was these truths about how to live one’s life that were saving, not the disciples themselves. These saving truths have the power to remit or retain sins, because they were from the Lord, the disciples only transmitted them from the Lord to those who would listen and take them to heart. Then He breathed on them - representing His holy spirit - so that they would not only want to pass these truths on to people, but would also be given the words to say whenever the times came. And then He was gone again.

Thomas was not there that night. We don’t know why. And Thomas, when he heard the story, just could not swallow it. "Except I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe", he said. (John 20:25.)

The next verse tells us that the next Sunday they gathered again, and that Thomas was present this time. As before, the Lord was suddenly there, saying again, "Peace be unto you", and then directly to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger… and reach hither thy hand… and be not faithless but believing". Now Thomas's response was, "my Lord and my God". It seems as if the Lord came this time just to convince Thomas, because it was Thomas who needed Him.

I think He does work this way. I am reminded of another story, from the gospel of Mark (Mark 9:17-27) where a father comes to Jesus with a young son who is possessed by a devil, and asks Jesus to cure him, and is asked in turn: "Do you believe I can do this?" In Mark 9:24 the father responds. Crying out, he said with tears, "I believe, help thou my unbelief."

I think many people have this conflict between lingering doubts and a desire to have the doubts taken away. If we carry on and make our decisions in life as if the doubts were indeed gone, then indeed they will lose their strength and actually will be gone.

These are the only details given of these two meetings in Jerusalem. Chronologically the next post-Easter stories are the ones that take place in Galilee.

John does go on to say at the end of his gospel "...many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God...." (John 20:30-31). Perhaps there were more post-Easter stories that weren't written down, but the ones we do have are strong. For the disciples who were involved, there was an unstoppable impact from the life and teachings of the Lord, and His crucifixion, and physical death, and now - in these stories - His resurrection. Hearing the Lord's charges to them, these Galilean fishermen and their colleagues launch out into the wide world, and work to achieve the Great Commission, enduring hardships and persecution, and succeeding - probably beyond their wildest dreams!

254. As I also overcame, and sit with my Father in his throne. That this signifies comparatively as the Divine good is united with the Divine truth in heaven, is evident from the signification of overcoming, when said of the Lord Himself, as being to unite Divine good with Divine truth. And as this was effected by temptations and victories, therefore it is said, "as I overcame." (That the Lord united Divine good with Divine truth by temptations admitted into His Human, and by continual victories then, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 201, 293, 302). The reason why sitting with my Father in his throne, signifies Divine good united with Divine truth in heaven, is that by Father, when mentioned by the Lord, is meant the Divine good which was in Him from conception, and by Son, the Divine truth, each in heaven; and by throne is meant heaven, as above. This Divine of the Lord in the heavens is called the Divine truth, but it is the Divine good united to the Divine truth. (That this is the case may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 139, 140).

[2] The reason why a comparison is made of the members of the church with the Lord himself, when it is said, "He that overcometh, to him will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and sit with my Father in his throne" is, that the life of the Lord upon earth was an example according to which the members of the church were to live, as the Lord Himself also teaches in John:

"I have given unto you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (13:15, 17).

This is why the Lord Himself, in places, makes a comparison between Himself and His disciples, as in John:

Jesus said, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love, as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love" (15:9, 10).

Again:

"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world" (17:16, 18).

Again:

"As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (20:21).

Again:

"The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them" (17:22-24, 26).

The reason why the Lord spoke of His conjunction with men as of His conjunction with the Father, that is, of His Human with the Divine which was in Himself, is that the Lord is not conjoined with man's proprium, but with what is His own. The Lord removes man's proprium, and gives from His own, and in that He dwells. That this is the case is also known in the church, as is clear from the prayer used by, and the exhortation addressed to, those who approach the Sacrament of the Supper, in which are these words: "If with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy Sacrament, for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us: we are one with Christ, and Christ with us." And in John 6:56. (But these things may be better comprehended from what is shown in the work, Heaven and Hell, n. 11, 12).

Hence, then, because the Divine of the Lord received by angels and men constitutes heaven and the church in them, they are one with the Lord, as He and the Father are one.

[3] In order that it may be yet more fully known how is to be understood what the Lord says, that He sits with His Father in His throne, it is to be noted that the throne of God denotes heaven, as was shown in the preceding article, also that heaven is heaven from the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which is called Divine truth, as was said above. The Lord Himself is not in heaven, but is above the heavens, and appears to those who are in the heavens as a Sun. The reason why the Lord appears as a Sun is because He is Divine love, and Divine love appears to the angels as solar fire; whence also sacred fire in the Word signifies Love Divine. From the Lord as a Sun proceed light and heat: the light which proceeds, because it is spiritual light, is Divine truth; and the heat, because it is spiritual heat, is Divine good. The latter, namely, the Divine good, is meant by the Father in heaven. (That the Lord is the Sun of heaven, and that the light and heat proceeding therefrom are the Divine truth united with the Divine good, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 116-125, also n. 126-140: and that heaven is heaven from the Divine which proceeds from the Lord, n. 7-12). It is therefore evident what is meant by Father in the heavens, and heavenly Father, as in Matthew:

Do good to your enemies, "that ye may be the sons of your Father which is in the heavens" (5:44, 45).

Again:

"Be ye perfect, as your Father in the heavens is perfect" (verse 48).

Again:

"You who are evil, know to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Father who is in the heavens give good things to them that ask him" (7:11).

Again:

"He that doeth the will of my Father who is in the heavens, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens" (7:21).

Again:

"Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (15:13).

Also in many other passages, in Matthew 5:16:6:1, 6, 8; 12:50; 16:17; 18:14, 19, 35; Mark 9:25, 26; Luke 11:13.

[4] That the Divine good is meant by the Father is also evident from this passage in Matthew:

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in the heavens" (18:10).

By their beholding the face of their Father who is in the heavens is signified that they receive Divine good from the Lord. That they do not actually see His face is evident from the words of the Lord in John:

"No one hath seen the Father at any time" (1:18; 5:37; 6:46).

The same is evident from this passage in Matthew:

"Call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father who is in the heavens" (23:9).

That no man is forbidden to call his father upon earth "father" is evident, nor is it here forbidden by the Lord; but this was said because by Father is meant the Divine good, and there is none good except the one God (19:17). The reason why the Lord spoke thus is that by the Father in the Word of both Testaments is meant, in the spiritual sense, the Divine good, as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834; and also heaven and the church as to good, Arcana Coelestia 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897; and by Father, when mentioned by the Lord, the Divine good of His Divine love, Arcana Coelestia 2803, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897).